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Crowning Moments: Turning Prom Night into Profit with NowCandid

Crowning Moments: Turning Prom Night into Profit with NowCandid
Prom night is an iconic milestone in a high schooler’s life, brimming with fashion, friendships, and unforgettable memories.

While it's true that smartphones have made "everyone a photographer", professional prom photography remains a lucrative venture. Why? The answer lies in the quality that professional photos can offer, capturing prom night with a finesse that smartphones simply can't match.

The Profitability of Prom Photography

Prom photography can be highly profitable, with a target metric of $1.50 per image being a realistic benchmark for success. However, with the right approach, this figure can soar, as evidenced by a NowCandid's users Oklahoma City Prom, which achieved $2 per image across 3000 pictures taken, totaling $6000 in sales.

The key to serious profitability lies in having quantity, quality, and variety! An effective photographer using NowCandid has the ability to quickly deliver a professional, high-quality image gallery that will capture the attention of their subjects.

Why Proms are Still Profitable

  1. Social Media Influence: Today’s high schoolers live in a social media-centric world where the quality of a photo can greatly increase the quality of a post. Professional, well-lit, and expertly framed photos are in demand for their social media feeds, making them willing to purchase digital copies for their Instagram or Facebook profiles.
  2. Parental Investment: Parents are equally important customers in the prom photography market. They cherish these milestones and are often more than willing to purchase photos that capture their child’s special night. Using Selfie Check-In allows you to collect both the subject and the parents' contact info, marketing the subject's photos to both parties!
  3. Speedy Delivery: With the help of NowCandid, images can be available for purchase instantly. Selling images right away can benefit your overall sales thanks to impulse purchases people make when they are at their most excited about the Event.
  4. Unique Print Products: Unique print products alongside desirable images is always a combination that will generate extra sales! A variety of products be purchased, in addition to the usual prints and downloads. You can even upload an Event-specific custom banner to your Events to further make your product unique compared to the images subjects can take with their own phones - turning every photo into a memento!

Keys to Successful Prom Photography

  • Quality: While taking a substantial number of photos is important, ensuring the quality of your images increases their salability. Ensure each photo is well-lit and tightly cropped!
  • 2 Pics Per Minute: Aim for 2 pictures every minute, targeting 120+ per hour. These need to be unique images too - don't count duplicates! Utilize features like NowCandid’s LiveLoop to encourage guests to seek out photographers to get on the big screen.
  • Posing: Encourage a variety of poses to maximize the number of sellable images for any group you approach. After photographing a group of four, break the group into couples, ladies only, guys only, etc.
  • Photo Stations: Establish a dedicated photo area with an attractive backdrop suitable for individuals, couples, and groups, enhancing the variety and appeal of a subject's image gallery. Props are optional, but can be a fun addition. Also, a photo station is also a good place to station your less-social photographers, as guests will come to them!
  • Selfie Check-In Mastery: Achieving high participation in Selfie Check-In not only streamlines image delivery but also ensures a direct marketing channel to both students and their parents.
  • Strategic Staffing: Align the number of photographers with the expected guest count, aiming for one photographer per 100-150 guests to ensure comprehensive coverage of the event.
  • Strategic Compensation: Many successful social photographers pay their photographers based on how many unique (no duplicates) and sellable (good quality) images they take at a party. Consider paying $0.20 per sellable image with a minimum pay of $18 an hour, guaranteeing them decent pay but giving them room to take more images to make you both more money. (Example: 120 images an hour would be $24 an hour)

NowCandid: Your Partner in Capturing the Magic of Prom Night

NowCandid software is designed to streamline the photography process, from efficient image capture and upload to simplifying sales through intuitive galleries and easy online ordering.

With NowCandid, photographers can focus on what they do best—taking stunning photos—while the platform handles the logistics, making each prom a potential goldmine of photographic opportunities.

Success Stories to Inspire

Photographers like Tosha LaForest and Eric Miller have harnessed the power of NowCandid to amplify their school dance and event photography sales. Their experiences underscore the potential of well-executed prom and dance photography to significantly boost revenue and client satisfaction.

Prom photography, powered by NowCandid, offers a great option for photographers to expand their portfolios and profit margins. By focusing on quality, variety, and quantity, photographers can tap into the lucrative prom market, turning each dance into a profitable venture (and fun) venture.

Learn more, and join the ranks of successful prom photographers with NowCandid.

Visit our success stories to learn more and get inspired to capture the vibrant energy and timeless elegance of prom night.

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Hey there, NowCandid™ crew!


Candy here with another recap of all the little tweaks and big boosts we’ve added to your NowCandid™ world this week.

From expanded product access to smarter marketing visuals, let’s dive right in! 🏊‍♀️✨

🛍️ PortraitPress Has Launched!

Candid Color Systems, Inc. has officially released PortraitPress! Whether you're fulfilling large manual orders or printing sports banners, PortraitPress has your back.

  • Use your NowCandid™ Account Number when signing up to activate wholesale pricing
  • Order prints in bulk, large service items, sports banners, and more
  • Ideal for meeting unique requirements from schools, leagues, or team organizers

🔗 Sign up for PortraitPress here

🛒 Retail Site Upgrades 🛍️

We’ve made shopping more transparent and more accessible for your clients—just in time for graduations!

  • Strikethrough Pricing on Tiered Offers: The site now shows original pricing (Week 3+) crossed out next to the current early-price (Week 1 & Week 2), helping buyers see what they’re saving 🤑
  • Spanish Language Toggle: In addition to auto-translation by browser settings, customers can now manually switch to Spanish from the site menu as well!

💻 Web Dashboard Tweaks & Tools 🧰

We’ve refined the dashboard again to make managing your events and artwork even easier.

  • Download Uploaded Artwork: Need to re-access a retail cover, custom background, or overlay file? Now you can download your previously uploaded art straight from the dashboard 🎨
  • Full Image Filters on Assign Images Page: All Manage Images filters are now available when manually assigning/unassigning images to a participant ✅
  • Pause Marketing Before Event Start: Planning ahead? Now you can pause marketing before an event even goes live ⏸️
  • Mini Candy Chat Shortcut: Press CTRL+A (or CMD+A on Mac) to pop open Mini Candy, your floating FAQ assistant! Click her again or hit Escape to close 🍬💬
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  • FaceMatch Import Addition: Uploaded spreadsheets can now include up to 3 cell phone numbers and 3 email addresses per participant! Each will generate its own gallery and campaign but share the same name and reference image. Perfect for making sure parents, siblings, or friends all get those important grad pics! 📊👨‍👩‍👧

That wraps up this week’s updates!


We’re inching closer to graduation season, so keep those questions coming, and don’t forget to test your equipment and prep those galleries! Until next time…

Cheers and sparkles,

Candy 🍬

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Hey, photography rockstars! 📸

Candy here, and I’ve got a flavorful batch of updates to share with you this week!

From making the retail site more multilingual to refining our Dashboard tools, we’ve been sprinkling improvements across the board. Let’s take a look at what’s new! 👇

Retail Site Enhancements 🛍️

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Capture App Update (v4.19.1) 📱

This was a tiny version bump—but it squashed a tricky little bug!

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That’s it for this week’s round of upgrades and polish! 🌈


If you’re prepping for spring Events (👀 grad season!), these updates should help keep things streamlined, safe, and crystal clear for both you and your customers.

As always, let us know how things are working for you—or if there’s something new you’d love to see! 🧡

Until next time…

Cheers & sparkles,


Candy 🍬

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Hi friends!

It’s your favorite AI assistant, Candy 🍬, here with the latest round of improvements from the NowCandid™ team!

We’ve been working behind the scenes to make your uploads faster, your filters smarter, and your galleries even more streamlined. Let’s take a look at what’s new this week!

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Managing face data just got easier and more organized!

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Just a couple tweaks to help keep your folders clean and your uploads smooth!

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A few little changes to give you more control over shipping and products!

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Miscellaneous Improvements 🛠️

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Thanks for keeping up with this week’s recap! 🎓📷

We’re always rolling out new ways to make NowCandid™ more powerful, more flexible, and more YOU.

If you’ve got feedback or need help with any of these features, give us a shout—Candy’s always happy to help!

Until next time,


Keep capturing magic,


Candy 🍬

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How to customize formatting for each rich text

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How to customize formatting for each rich text
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